Wiler

Wiler (Lötschen) is a municipality in the district of Raron in the canton of Valais in Switzerland.

Geography

Wiler has an area, as of 2009^[update], of 14.7 square kilometers (5.7 sq mi). Of this area, 2.83 km² (1.09 sq mi) or 19.3% is used for agricultural purposes, while 3.4 km² (1.3 sq mi) or 23.2% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 0.37 km² (0.14 sq mi) or 2.5% is settled (buildings or roads), 0.14 km² (35 acres) or 1.0% is either rivers or lakes and 7.95 km² (3.07 sq mi) or 54.2% is unproductive land.^[3]

Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 1.4% and transportation infrastructure made up 0.9%. Out of the forested land, 19.6% of the total land area is heavily forested and 2.5% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 0% is used for growing crops, 5.2% is pastures and 14.1% is used for alpine pastures. All the water in the municipality is flowing water. Of the unproductive areas, 13.6% is unproductive vegetation, 36.5% is too rocky for vegetation and 4.2% of the land is covered by glaciers.^[3]

Coat of arms

The blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Argent, four Cynorrhodon Flowers Gules conjoined Or surrounded by a Garland and in base Coupeaux Vert.^[4]

Demographics

Wiler has a population (as of December 2010^[update]) of 546.^[1] As of 2008^[update], 5.1% of the population are resident foreign nationals.^[5] Over the last 10 years (2000–2010 ) the population has changed at a rate of 9.3%. It has changed at a rate of 2% due to migration and at a rate of 8.3% due to births and deaths.^[6]

Most of the population (as of 2000^[update]) speaks German (479 or 98.2%) as their first language, Serbo-Croatian is the second most common (4 or 0.8%) and Danish is the third (3 or 0.6%).^[7]

As of 2008^[update], the population was made up of 522 Swiss citizens and 28 non-citizen residents (5.09% of the population).^[5] Of the population in the municipality, 355 or about 72.7% were born in Wiler and lived there in 2000. There were 97 or 19.9% who were born in the same canton, while 24 or 4.9% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 11 or 2.3% were born outside of Switzerland.^[7]

As of 2000^[update], children and teenagers (0-19 years old) make up 21.5% of the population, while adults (20-64 years old) make up 65% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 13.5%.^[6]

As of 2000^[update], there were 229 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 224 married individuals, 28 widows or widowers and 7 individuals who are divorced.^[7]

As of 2000^[update], there were 175 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2.8 persons per household.^[6] There were 36 households that consist of only one person and 20 households with five or more people. In 2000^[update], a total of 173 apartments (30.6% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 342 apartments (60.5%) were seasonally occupied and 50 apartments (8.8%) were empty.^[8] As of 2009^[update], the construction rate of new housing units was 16.3 new units per 1000 residents.^[6]

The historical population is given in the following chart:^[9]

Politics

In the 2007 federal election the most popular party was the CVP which received 71.3% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the SVP (16.64%), the Green Party (5.29%) and the SP (4.16%). In the federal election, a total of 206 votes were cast, and the voter turnout was 52.0%.^[10]

Economy

As of 2010^[update], Wiler had an unemployment rate of 1.3%. As of 2008^[update], there were 54 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 19 businesses involved in this sector. 28 people were employed in the secondary sector and there were 8 businesses in this sector. 113 people were employed in the tertiary sector, with 28 businesses in this sector.^[6] There were 255 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 34.9% of the workforce.

In 2008^[update] the total number of full-time equivalent jobs was 141. The number of jobs in the primary sector was 28, of which 19 were in agriculture and 9 were in forestry or lumber production. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 26 of which 3 or (11.5%) were in manufacturing and 23 (88.5%) were in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 87. In the tertiary sector; 14 or 16.1% were in the sale or repair of motor vehicles, 18 or 20.7% were in the movement and storage of goods, 30 or 34.5% were in a hotel or restaurant, 2 or 2.3% were the insurance or financial industry, 2 or 2.3% were technical professionals or scientists, 6 or 6.9% were in education and 2 or 2.3% were in health care.^[11]

In 2000^[update], there were 46 workers who commuted into the municipality and 141 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net exporter of workers, with about 3.1 workers leaving the municipality for every one entering.^[12] Of the working population, 23.1% used public transportation to get to work, and 42.4% used a private car.^[6]

Religion

From the 2000 census^[update], 472 or 96.7% were Roman Catholic, while 13 or 2.7% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church. 1 (or about 0.20% of the population) belonged to no church, are agnostic or atheist, and 2 individuals (or about 0.41% of the population) did not answer the question.^[7]

Education

In Wiler about 216 or (44.3%) of the population have completed non-mandatory upper secondary education, and 26 or (5.3%) have completed additional higher education (either university or a Fachhochschule). Of the 26 who completed tertiary schooling, 88.5% were Swiss men, 11.5% were Swiss women.^[7]

As of 2000^[update], there were 10 students in Wiler who came from another municipality, while 22 residents attended schools outside the municipality.^[12]

References